Tuesday, May 15, 2018

(Falmouth Harbour, Antigua)- One hundred and sixteen teams from 37
different countries raced in the 51st edition of Antigua Sailing Week
held from April 29 to May 4. Strong trade winds blew all week,
delivering classic Caribbean conditions to over 1,000 competitors.

“This
is fantastic. It is the second time we have won the Lord Nelson Trophy
and I am really thrilled to win it again,” commented Peter Harrison,
owner of SOJANA. “We have had beautiful crew work, everybody was really
on their game. We had our boat restored three years ago and have new
sails and the crew have all done her justice.”

Added SOJANA crew boss Jonny Malbon, “This week has been amazing, with
perfect conditions for SOJANA; breezy and lumpy and full-on. We have
pushed ourselves and the boat. The crew is very diverse; we have a
couple of young guys from the National Sailing Academy of Antigua and
professional sailors from all over the world. We broke a few things, but
always repaired them. It has been an epic week and the boss is
super-happy. This is his favourite regatta, because it’s intense and
fun.”

In
the dozen-boat CSA 5 Class, the famous J/122 EL OCASO, sailed by Kym
Kapalla, started off slowly with an 8-7-6 and closed fast with a steady
3-3-2-2 to take fourth place with 23 pts net. Perhaps with a bit more
practice beforehand, they may have had a great chance for 2nd or 3rd in
their class. Pamala Baldwin’s J/122 LIQUID suffered a DSQ in their 6th
race, hurting their chances for a top five finish.

In the nine-boat CSA 7 Class, David Cullen’s Irish crew aboard his J/109
POCKET ROCKET sailed a solid series to take the bronze.